UB Yesterday: Nov. 9, 1967

Let Freedom Ring

By Sally Jarzab

As Martin Luther King Jr. saw it, three forces surreptitiously
hold back social justice. They are the myth of time, the myth of
the heart and the myth of the “bootstrap
philosophy.”

The first makes people believe that things get better naturally
with time and leads them to complacency. The second suggests that
positive change must occur within people’s hearts and not, as
is really necessary, within the codes of law. And the last supports
the false notion that the oppressed can pull themselves out of
oppression if they simply try harder. The illustrious civil rights
leader—and grandson of slaves and sharecroppers—felt
that the progress the nation had achieved was threatened by these
misbeliefs, which created a “dangerous optimism” among
those dreaming of true equality for all.

Fifty years have passed since King’s appearance in
Buffalo, organized by the UB Graduate Student Association and held
just five months before his assassination, during a time of burning
churches, raging riots and an escalating war that he opposed.
Still, his closing words to the audience of more than 2,000
students, faculty, staff and community members at Kleinhans Music
Hall that night were steadfast, even hopeful, and met with a
standing ovation.

“I haven’t lost faith, even though the days ahead
are still difficult, and the problems are very real, and the
moments are very frustrating,” King said. “I will not
yield to the politics of despair. Our goal is freedom, and I still
believe that, somehow, we’ll get there.”